Center of Excellence in Therapeutics
The Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Center of Excellence in Therapeutics at UC San Diego takes a human milk-centered approach to investigate the role of maternal and pediatric therapeutics at intersections of the mother-milk-infant ‘triad’.
A New Hope for "Therapeutic Orphans"
The Challenge
Pregnant and lactating women are considered "therapeutic orphans" because they generally have been excluded from clinical drug research and the drug development process. As a consequence, most medications prescribed for pregnant and lactating women lack sufficient safety and efficacy information. Nonetheless, most women take one or more medications during pregnancy and lactation.
The Need
There is an urgent need for research at the very intersection of maternal and infant health, so that physicians and healthcare providers can make data-informed recommendations to pregnant and breastfeeding women. It is simply unacceptable that often the default recommendation is to stop breastfeeding just because of insufficient data.
Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Hub
The 2020 Strategic Plan of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) prioritizes the support of "research to test and evaluate therapeutics and medical devices used by pregnant and breastfeeding women." One key initiative is the establishment of the Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Hub. The MPRINT Hub serves "as a national resource for conducting and fostering therapeutics-focused research in obstetrics, lactation, and pediatrics while enhancing inclusion of people with disabilities."
The MPRINT Hub
The MPRINT Hub comprises a Knowledge and Research Coordination Center (KRCC) and two Centers of Excellence in Therapeutics (CETs), one at the University of California, San Diego.
UC San Diego MPRINT CET
The UC San Diego MPRINT CET is entitled “Optimization of Antibiotics in Mothers and Their Breastfed Infants Using Pharmacomicrobiomic and Metabolomic Analyses” and brings together a team of highly experienced and proven collaborative investigators with leadership roles in maternal and pediatric clinical pharmacology, fundamental research methods and technologies.
Across its highly integrated and synergistic components, the UC San Diego MPRINT CET addresses critical barriers in maternal-infant pharmacology:
- pharmacokinetics of infant exposure to maternal antibiotic treatment via human milk or close contact
- impact of maternal antibiotic therapy or prophylaxis on establishment of the normal infant microbiome and gut metabolome
- potential downstream effects of such antibiotic exposure on infant immune function and hepatic cytochrome P450 drug metabolizing enzymes
- pivotal role of human milk both as a conduit for antibiotic transfer and source of beneficial human/mammalian milk oligosaccharides (HMOs/MMOs) that may support microbiome and immune integrity in face of antibiotic stress
The UC San Diego MPRINT CET is structured in three projects:
- Clinical Project: “Antibiotic Treatment in Breastfeeding Mothers: Effects on Milk, Microbiome, and Infant Outcomes” enrolls a maternal-infant clinical cohort to study how maternal antibiotics alter human milk composition and impact infant outcomes in clinical meaningful ways.
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Basic Science Project: “The Impact of Ampicillin and Milk Oligosaccharides on the Infant Microbiome and Immune Functions” leverages extensive experience in mouse models of neonatal host-pathogen interactions to probe functional effects of ampicillin and milk oligosaccharides on infant immune function, including a novel cross-fostering strategy with wild-type and milk oligosaccharide-deficient dams.
- Data Science Project: “Impact of Maternal Antibiotics on the Breastfeeding Infant Microbiome and Metabolome” deploys advanced MS technology, non-invasive sampling and innovative molecular networking analytics in a cutting-edge study of the impact of human milk antibiotic exposure on the infant microbiome, metabolome and hepatic Cyp enzymes.
The UC San Diego MPRINT CET is supported by an administrative core and two analytical cores.
MPRINT Cores
The UC San Diego MPRINT CET includes two analytical cores, the Milk Analytics Core (MAC) and the Pharmacometric & Analytical Chemistry Core (PACC), offering services to the MPRINT network and the research community at large.
Partner with us
Are you developing maternal therapeutics and need to know if they are transmitted through human milk or change milk composition, ultimately impacting infant health and development?
Do you need to know if human milk affects the safety and efficacy of pediatric therapeutics you are working on?
Support
The UC San Diego Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Center of Excellence in Therapeutics (CET) is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
P50 HD106463: "Optimization of Antibiotics in Mothers and their Breastfed Infants Using Pharmacomicrobiomic and Metabolomic Analyses" (Drs. Tremoulet (contact PI), Bode, Chambers, Nizet, and Tsunoda)
